Punta Vicente Roca and Fernandina Island
We started to sail early last night going from the southern tip of Isabela Island all the way to the northwestern side of the archipelago to visit Punta Vicente Roca in the morning. It has been a quiet, pleasant navigation and the Polaris has gently taken us from the southern hemisphere, crossing the equator for the first time this trip, to the northern hemisphere and then back down to the south again. Our guests, the captain of the vessel and some of the Polaris crew had a happy celebration on the bridge as we crossed the equatorial line for their first time. We will be crossing the equator a total of six times during this week.
As soon as our vessel anchored, our guests started to disembark for the different activities of the day. First of all, we started with a refreshing Zodiac ride along the extraordinary rocky coasts of Punta Vicente Roca, where we had the chance to see our first flightless cormorants, penguins, sea lions, fur seals, sally light foot crabs together with some marine and shore birds that we could already recognize. An additional surprise sighting on this great ride was the great Mola mola or sun fish. These enormous fish are found in very few places on Earth. The clear waters of the area even allowed us to take pictures of these rare creatures from the Zodiac itself. We snorkeled and kayaked surrounded by sea turtles and shared beautiful moments with the unique wilderness at the tip top of Isabela Island.
After a nice buffet lunch, the naturalists on board offered a conference about Charles Darwin’s biography, which was well appreciated by all the guests on board who assisted the event en masse. Later in the afternoon, we disembarked at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island, one of the two remaining completely pristine islands of the Galápagos. We spent the rest of the afternoon among the nesting colony of flightless cormorants, Galápagos snakes, Galápagos hawks, the big marine iguanas and the playful sea lions. The walk was an amusing stroll on the young lava flows of Fernandina. This was another happy ending of a great day in paradise.
We started to sail early last night going from the southern tip of Isabela Island all the way to the northwestern side of the archipelago to visit Punta Vicente Roca in the morning. It has been a quiet, pleasant navigation and the Polaris has gently taken us from the southern hemisphere, crossing the equator for the first time this trip, to the northern hemisphere and then back down to the south again. Our guests, the captain of the vessel and some of the Polaris crew had a happy celebration on the bridge as we crossed the equatorial line for their first time. We will be crossing the equator a total of six times during this week.
As soon as our vessel anchored, our guests started to disembark for the different activities of the day. First of all, we started with a refreshing Zodiac ride along the extraordinary rocky coasts of Punta Vicente Roca, where we had the chance to see our first flightless cormorants, penguins, sea lions, fur seals, sally light foot crabs together with some marine and shore birds that we could already recognize. An additional surprise sighting on this great ride was the great Mola mola or sun fish. These enormous fish are found in very few places on Earth. The clear waters of the area even allowed us to take pictures of these rare creatures from the Zodiac itself. We snorkeled and kayaked surrounded by sea turtles and shared beautiful moments with the unique wilderness at the tip top of Isabela Island.
After a nice buffet lunch, the naturalists on board offered a conference about Charles Darwin’s biography, which was well appreciated by all the guests on board who assisted the event en masse. Later in the afternoon, we disembarked at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island, one of the two remaining completely pristine islands of the Galápagos. We spent the rest of the afternoon among the nesting colony of flightless cormorants, Galápagos snakes, Galápagos hawks, the big marine iguanas and the playful sea lions. The walk was an amusing stroll on the young lava flows of Fernandina. This was another happy ending of a great day in paradise.
